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Is someone who abandons prayer completely considered a non-Muslim? And does someone who prays the two Eids and sometimes Friday prayer or some of the five daily prayers fall under the ruling of "one who does not pray completely," and is therefore considered a non-Muslim? And how do we interpret the phrase "does not pray completely"?

1 min readAlso available in العربية

Abandoning prayer entirely, meaning not performing it at all, is considered disbelief by the majority of scholars. However, regarding someone who prays sometimes and abandons it at other times, there is a difference of opinion. Some scholars believe that such a person commits an act of disbelief by intentionally abandoning a single obligatory prayer until its time has expired, like abandoning Dhuhr prayer until sunset, or Maghrib prayer until the time for Isha prayer has passed. Other scholars hold that a person does not commit an act of disbelief unless they abandon prayer permanently. Sheikh Ibn 'Uthaymeen was of the view that disbelief occurs only through the absolute abandonment of prayer, while the Permanent Committee issued a fatwa stating that whoever intentionally abandons a single obligatory prayer until its time has expired is a disbeliever and an apostate.

Summarized from the full answer at Ftawy · reviewed Sep 2, 2026

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